t her eyes, when they met mine over h

e a pathetic whimper. "I didn' t touch the ashes. She

othed, stroking her hair.

ifyingly calm fury. He nodded to the two bod

ere was nowhere to go. They each took an arm, thei

d to the main staircase. It was a grand,

ecency to look ashamed. "I' m

hey sh

tting the hard marble with a series of sickeni

what had happened, they were

pushed

ag

ag

en you don' t learn your lesson," one of

tairs. My body was screaming, but my mind was strangely calm. It was t

p in the hospital again. E

n' t apologize. He just

said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Go there. Rest. Think a

ng, I would still wait for him.

cted," he added, as if it were a

steady. "Thank you, Declan

e, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. He opene

ed me at the gate. He watched me walk up th

a second, then his face hardened. He answered the call, turned the car around, and drov

as w

d his own eyes filled with tears. I collapsed into his arms and finally let m

an in a sharp suit got out. It was Holt' s assistant. He handed me a folder. In

the man said. "Once the fire is reporte

illing me. I helped my father into the car. As we dro

re was a brilliant, roaring orange against t

ulder and, for the first time in a v

t he owned. He would spend the rest of his life haunted by a

would